Global water and energy bodies join forces to improve energy efficiency in water sector

Energy & resources news - by GreenWise staff

12th March 2012

The World Energy Council and World Water Council have announced a long-term cooperation agreement to promote greater energy efficiency in the water sector.

At the sixth World Water Forum held this week in Marseille, France, Pierre Gadonneix, chairman of the World Energy Council, and Loïc Fauchon, chairman of the World Water Council, announced they would work together to encourage public policy to address the "water-energy nexus". The cooperation agreement includes promoting greater energy efficiency in the management of water, recognising and improving energy usage in the water sector, and facilitating cross-sector dialogue.

"At the heart of climate negotiations, we need to shift from the concept of energy-climate towards one of energy-water. Recognising the nexus between water and energy will translate into greater funding for water infrastructure. Energy and water both lie at the heart of securing tomorrow’s world," Loïc Fauchon, president of the World Water Council, said.

Under the cooperation, the two organisations will share data and information; ensure that both water and energy are considered in the work of both organisations; advance solutions on both local and regional levels; and promote issues related to the "water–energy nexus".

"Water and energy have a unique relationship made of mutual interactions, one being either a vulnerability or an opportunity to the other. More importantly, they face similar long-term challenges in terms of rising demand – driven by demographic growth and pulled by global development – and addressing the issues of climate change, energy and water poverty which constitute fundamental barriers to human development," Pierre Gadonneix, President of World Energy Council, said.

"Both sectors also have comparable opportunities, especially in terms of the resources and technologies that are available to us to address those challenges.

"Therefore, similar and coordinated solutions and policies should be developed in terms of governance on both national and international levels. This has been the driver for our decision to strengthen the collaboration between the World Water Council and the World Energy Council."

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